News:

"There is a terrible desperation to the increasingly pathetic rationalizations from the climate denial camp. This comes as no surprise if you take the long view; every single undone paradigm in history has died kicking and screaming, and our current petroleum paradigm 🐉🦕🦖 is no different. The trick here is trying to figure out how we all make it to the new ⚡ paradigm without dying ☠️ right along with the old one, kicking, screaming or otherwise." - William Rivers Pitt

A new report from Accenture highlighted a potential revenue loss for U.S. utilities of $48 billion per year by 2025 due to distributed solar and energy efficiency. But where does that money go? If we pursue a democratic energy system as outlined in ILSR's new report (also released last week), it goes right into the pockets of utility customers.

Read on for an explanation of how we can achieve energy democracy out of the turmoil of today's electricity system.

A System Under Stress

Why are U.S. electric utilities facing huge revenue losses? Because their business model, built around a 20th century centralized command-and-control electric utility, is increasingly outdated in an age when we can produce power on rooftops from ubiquitous sunshine and manage energy individually on ubiquitous smartphones.

See the following timeline released in ILSR's new report to understand the changes being wrought.U.S. Electricity System Timeline

There have been three waves of change crashing over the electric utility system in the past 50 years: Shock & Competition, Deregulation, and Transition. The third wave, powered by distributed renewable energy and stagnant energy demand and aided by state regulation, isn't going to recede.Already, the Wall Street Journal notes that the era of growing electricity sales is likely over.

WSJ stagnant electricity demand

Not only is demand falling, but competition from renewable energy sources is growing. In the past few years, that competition isn't just from other large power producers, but from utility customers themselves (see the growth of "small solar" in particular (and red), representing residential and commercial installations 1 megawatt and smaller).

Renewable Energy Share of New U.S. Power Plants

The $48 Billion Question for a New Business Model Utilities haven't given up in the face of this threat. In fact, they're often actively fighting it while they continue to invest in the infrastructure for last century's grid (read more in ILSR's report).

These battles are the origin of "Utility 2.0," a business model discussion inside and outside of utilities that would allow electric companies to accommodate flat energy demand and rising customer energy production. It's good policy, focused on shifting the principles of the electricity system to a low-carbon, flexible, and efficient one as well as shifting utility incentives to achieve these outcomes.But Utility 2.0 will prove inadequate if it remains indifferent to the flow of energy dollars out of communities (the $48 billion question).

Already, 500,000 U.S. homes sport solar energy and it gets more affordable every year. Rooftop solar, smartphones, and widespread energy storage will give utility customers unprecedented opportunity to control their energy usage, and to capture their share of the nation's energy dollars. A 2.0 utility business model that doesn't accommodate this opportunity for local, equitable access to energy production and management will leave many U.S. electricity consumers deeply unsatisfied.

Energy Democracy

That's the central point of Utility 3.0, or as we call it, energy democracy. It adds two other principles – local control and equitable access – to the low-carbon, flexible, and efficient grid of the future to make the Five Pillars of Energy Democracy. The following graphic illustrates the principles of the ideal 21st century electricity system and how the policies of the electricity system contribute to achieving those desired outcomes.

Five Pillars of Energy Democracy

How do we get to energy democracy from where we are now?[color=green]

In Vermont, the state has already identified and adopted many of the key strategies and policies, from robust net metering to integrated distribution and transmission planning. [/color]They have an independent energy efficiency utility, and a feed-in tariff to encourage broader distributed renewable energy development.

In New York, the state is Reforming the Energy Vision, and considering how to make an open and transparent marketplace that puts utility customers on an even footing with utilities in providing key energy services. The following graphic illustrates this concept.

Energy democracy in action

Neither state has unleashed a system with real "energy democracy" yet, but they're pursuing the right principles and structure and policy that will lead in that direction.

Will utilities survive this crashing wave of energy democracy? It depends on your definition of survive. Will they continue to profit from retaining control over the generation and transaction of power on the electricity system? Perhaps not. Could they profit from designing and deploying the infrastructure and software to make a democracy energy distribution system? Certainly. They just need a little vision.

This article originally posted at ilsr.org. For timely updates, follow John Farrell on Twitter or get the Democratic Energy weekly update.

The information and views expressed in this blog post are solely those of the author and not necessarily those of RenewableEnergyWorld.com or the companies that advertise on this Web site and other publications. This blog was posted directly by the author and was not reviewed for accuracy, spelling or grammar.

1 Comments

A. G. Gelbert December 15, 2014

Outstanding article!

I wish to add that Energy Democracy is the sure (and only!) path to obtaining political democracy in the USA. Anybody that thinks we have one is into magical thinking.

For those who think this is hyperbole, please remember what the Fossil fuel Lobby and the Nuclear Power Lobby does with their "profits". Look at the disproportionate "contributions" to MOST of our (s)elected officials over the last half century.

The dirty energy welfare queens have gotten what they paid for.

As John noted, the utilities defending fossil fuels are fighting Renewable distributed Energy tooth and nail. The Polluting Energy Industries are the friend and advocate of centralized energy. They provide the lion's share of "contributions" to PACs.

The bottom line for we-the-people is that politicians never stay bought. As long as Demand Destruction for dirty energy continues apace, less welfare queen "profits" will be available to further degrade our thoroughly degraded democracy.

The people of the English Colonies in America were able to be totally independent of England by providing for everything they needed in energy, food, shelter and clothing during the American Revolution. Americans actually had totally distributed energy, most of it renewable, in 1776.

And no, there was absolutely no reason to change that energy picture as the industrial revolution gathered steam. Centralized Energy was a stalking horse for centralized political power. It still is.

This is how the oligarchic Oil barons and captains of industry degraded our Democratic Representative Republic:

Around the year 1800, the power of a (white, land owner) American citizen's vote was reasonable (if all the adult citizens had been allowed to vote). At that time a NEW Rep could be added to a state if the Congressional district exceeded 60,000 population. In 1918-19 the COUNT of reps was UNCONSTITUTIONALLY frozen.

This assured corporations would get MORE influence while the individual voter would get less. At present your vote is worth one SIXTEENTH of what it was in the year 1800! Representative Republic? I don't think so.

I cede the floor to Patrick Henry

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"But we are told that we need not fear; because those in power, being our representatives, will not abuse the powers we put in their hands. I am not well versed in history, but I will submit to your recollection, whether liberty has been destroyed most often by the licentiousness of the people, or by the tyranny of rulers.

I imagine, sir, you will find the balance on the side of tyranny. Happy will you be if you miss the fate of those nations, who, omitting to resist their oppressors, or negligently suffering their liberty to be wrested from them, have groaned under intolerable despotism!

Most of the human race are now in this deplorable condition; and those nations who have gone in search of grandeur, power, and splendor, have also fallen a sacrifice, and been the victims of their own folly. While they acquired those visionary blessings, they lost their freedom."

I imagine that Patrick Henry, who is famously quoted as saying he smelled a rat in Philadelphia (the Constitutional convention), would have preferred one elected representative for much fewer voters than 30,000. He wanted to keep a sharp eye on the reps way back when. He would probably be outraged and leading a revolution today.

Patrick Henry's rat was eaten by a Rockefeller T-Rex. We need to kill this dinosaur. The damned thing will kill us all and then start on it's own tail.

Do your part to provide a viable biosphere for future generations AND obtain a Democratic Representative Republic in the USA; go distributed Renewable Energy!

Excellent Comments to A $48 Billion Opportunity for US Electric Customers by John Farrell.

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Brian Donovan December 15, 2014

Great articles, saved.

Watch out for the energy storage bugaboo. The grid already has reserve generators to deal with baseload inflexibility and unpredictable demand changes, it works just fine withe intermittent but predictable solar and wind.

15 minutes battery grid stabilization help the "old" baseload grid as much as it help the new, intermittent grid.

I see a different more democratic grid. Cities and town need to own their grid and power sources, enough to stand alone at least for several days. The grid is already organized with "distribution substations" that supple a few 100 KW at the local low voltage home use, from the higher voltage greater grid. These distribution substations are the perfect place to put MSW to energy and fuels systems feeding reserve gas turbines. The local are installs solar on every good roof and parking lot. This is a complete 24/7 system for isolated communities. This is how the third world should build their grid.

In the first world, they are already all connected to the greater grid. The advantages are numerous. They can sell excess solar and electricity from wastes. They can draw electricity from the greater grid when they want to. These distribution stations have the switches to island in the case of greater grid blackouts. No more multi state blackouts! The local communities have the power to set terms on the greater grid giant utilities. The local waste powered gas turbines are normally under control of the greater grid controllers, and collectedly backup the entire grid. Because it's distributed, the 7% grid loses nearly vanish.

Finally, we add plug in hybrid electric cars with Vehicle to Grid (V2G). Now we don't need wastefull spinning reserve. The ecars collectively use 5% of their battery charge to stabilize the grid as never before possible, down to the microsecond. The reserve generators can be shut off till needed. The ecars provide 5-15 minutes backup needed to start the reserve generators up.

Plug in hybrids can even eliminate the need for the substation reserve generator. 250 M 100kw ecars is many times the total grid power. Sine they are hybrids, just keep feeding the fuel, from wastes. Third world countries could have a system with solar panels and a plug in hybrid. Done.

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William Fitch III December 15, 2014

Hi: Nice article. You have to, with RE, be able to handle times when RE is not available.

Right now in PA we are having an extremely cloudy DEC. It may be on track to be the cloudiest I have ever seen. Since Nov 26th, I have had only two days of production where I have overtaken load. The difference between Nov and Dec so far is an almost complete inversion of load vs production. This won't last forever of course, but these are the times that demand the most creative engineering solutions to maintain RE production and load matching.... Wind has been in the picture during this period which would help of course, but by itself would not fill all production "holes".... .....Bill

Christmas is just a few days away, and with it, also TBS’s annual marathon of A Christmas Story. Readers of a certain generation will remember it as the classic movie from 1983 in which Ralphie Parker, the central character, pines for an airsoft Red Ryder BB gun, only to be rebuffed, “You’ll shoot your eye out.”

As it turns out, he’d do a number on the climate, too. The other day a colleague alerted me to the fact that some airsoft guns use HFC 134a as a propellant.HFC 134a is 3,800 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas over a 20-year period.

But here are 10 other statistics you might not know about greenhouse gas emissions and energy this holiday season:

1. If considered as a separate nation, the United States’ building stock would rank third in energy consumption: Only China and the U.S. consume more primary energy than the U.S. built environment, which uses 8 percent of the world’s primary energy, 42 percent of U.S. primary energy, and 72 percent of U.S. electricity.

2. Searching for parking burns one million barrels of oil per day: In Los Angeles alone, city drivers searching for parking in a 15-block district drove more than 950,000 miles, emitted 730 metric tons of carbon dioxide, and burned 47,000 gallons of gasoline.

3. Junk mail has a huge carbon footprint, not just a landfill footprint: The energy used to produce, deliver, and dispose of junk mail produces more greenhouse gas emissions than 2.8 million cars.

4. Micropower now produces about one-fourth of the world’s total electricity: Low- and no-carbon micropower, which includes renewables minus big hydro, plus cogeneration, now produces one-fourth of the world’s electricity. When you add big hydro and nuclear to the mix, micropower produced half the world’s electricity in 2013.

5. Photovoltaic power worldwide is scaling even faster than cellphones: For the last 14 years, global solar PV production has grown faster than 41 percent per year. The amount of solar power installed worldwide is now over 140 GW.

6. Renewable energy is cheaper than fossil fuels: The cost of solar and wind power has plummeted so much in the past five years that utility-scale renewable generation is now cost competitive with, and in some markets cheaper than, coal and natural gas, even without subsidies.

7. Efficient transportation beats out the fracking revolution:Between 2004 and 2013 the decrease in driving in the U.S. along with more-efficient vehicles displaced twice as many oil imports than the U.S. fracking revolution and the consequent rise in domestic oil output.8. Efficiency beats out natural gas:In 2012, energy efficiency displaced nearly twice as much domestically burned coal as expanded natural gas use did. In fact, lower consumption due to 1974–2010 increases in energy efficiency was the largest single energy resource across the 11 IEA member countries’ aggregate total final consumption—bigger than oil, or than all other sources combined.

9. Universities are striving for carbon neutrality: Since 2007, the American Colleges and Universities Presidents’ Climate Commitment has encouraged almost 700 colleges and universities to commit to achieving carbon neutrality. A few small colleges have already achieved carbon neutrality, most recently Colby College in Maine.

10. There are more U.S. jobs in the solar industry than in coal mining: In 2013 the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated 80,030 jobs for all occupations within the coal-mining industry. Meanwhile, the Solar Foundation’s National Solar Jobs Census 2013, stated that the solar industry employed 142,698 Americans.

As Germans look to the future, Kaun notes that they have a broader definition of energy storage than in the United States. The U.S. definition of energy storage typically focuses on electric power in, electric power out – that is, electricity storage. Germany’s definition is broader, characterized by three main categories: power to heat, power to gas (specifically hydrogen) and power to power, which can utilize a range of storage technologies, including electrochemical (batteries), mechanical or thermal.

The world’s three biggest carbon emitters—the U.S., China, and the European Union—have all announced emissions goals or limits in the past few months. That’s great news, but global fossil fuel demand continues to rise, and with it, so do climate change’s risks—to the economy, to the environment, to security, to human health and to people living in poverty in areas where climate change will have a devastating impact. The most recent IPCC report (AR5) found that “warming of the climate system is unequivocal,” “human influence on the climate system is clear,” and “limiting climate change will require substantial and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.”Combating climate change through energy efficiency, renewable energy technologies, clean transportation, and smarter land use can reap rewards as great economically as environmentally.

The 2014 report Risky Business: The Economic Risks of Climate Change in the United States detailed the serious economic harm we can expect from climate change if we continue on our current path. But the challenge before us is about more than averting the worst economic impacts of climate change. As highlighted in the recently released Better Growth, Better Climate report from The New Climate Economy, it’s also about finding enormous economic opportunity in clean energy solutions that both tackle global warming and unlock growth opportunities for all.

The transformation to a low-carbon future is arguably the greatest business opportunity of our time. Combating climate change through energy efficiency, renewable energy technologies, clean transportation, and smarter land use can reap great rewards both economically and environmentally.

Fortunately, an energy revolution is rising all around us—enabled by smart policies in mindful markets, and led by business for profit. Efficient energy use fuels more economic activity than oil, at far lower cost, while its potential gets ever bigger and cheaper. In each of the past three years, the world invested a quarter-trillion dollars—more than the market cap of the world’s coal industry—to add over 80 billion watts of renewable capacity (excluding big hydro dams). Generating capacity added last year was 37 percent renewable in the U.S., 68 percent in China, 72 percent in Europe and 53 percent in the world. Last year, the world invested over $600 billion in efficiency, renewables, and cogeneration.This growth is accelerating: solar power is scaling faster than cellphones. Last year alone, China added more solar capacity than the U.S. has added in 60 years.

Electric vehicle sales are growing twice as fast as hybrid cars did at a comparable stage. Shrewd companies are realizing climate solutions’ enormous business opportunities—a prospect scarcely dimmed by cheaper oil, which makes only a few percent of the world’s electricity.

Global companies like IKEA, Google, Apple, Facebook, Salesforce and Walmart have committed to 100 percent renewable power. Tesla’s stock is up an astounding 660 percent over the past two years and has half the market value of General Motors Corp. The NEX index, which tracks clean energy companies worldwide, grew by 50 percent over the past two years—far outperforming the general market—while equity raisings by quoted clean energy companies more than doubled. Many of the world’s top financial firms concur that the era of coal and of big power plants is drawing to a close; Germany’s biggest utility is divesting those assets to focus on efficiency and renewables.

Yet we need to create even bigger and faster change. Which is why we are delighted to announce that our two nonprofit organizations—Rocky Mountain Institute and the Carbon War Room—are joining forces. By uniting two of the world’s preeminent nonprofit practitioners of market-based energy and climate solutions, we will help turn the toughest long-term energy challenges into vast opportunities for entrepreneurs to create wealth and public benefit for all.

United we stand to make a greater impact more quickly. Indeed, we already are. Our first combined program, the Ten Island Challenge, is making progress in six Caribbean countries. Caribbean economies suffer from some of the world’s highest electricity prices—perpetuating poverty, swelling national debts, and blocking sustainable development. They are also on the front lines of climate change, facing earlier impacts from sea-level rise, rising temperatures, and extreme weather events. Our alliance is laying the groundwork to transform these islands’ energy systems from dependence on costly imported diesel oil to cleaner, cost-effective efficiency and local renewables. This will cut electricity costs, boost private investment, and enhance and diversify local jobs. We are demonstrating that entire economies can adopt low-carbon solutions while strengthening their economies.

And islands are just the beginning as we build on our organizations’ initiatives already underway and on our new joint efforts to go further, faster together. In trucking, the learnings of our North American initiative will seed a new China program—strengthening an exciting collaboration with the Chinese government’s energy analysts that’s already showing the maximum share of efficiency and renewables that could support the forecasted economic growth of what will soon become the world’s largest economy. In cement, we will join forces to offset the energy surge from construction in the world’s fastest-growing economies. And we will combine our work on cracking the biggest nut of all: energy efficiency in buildings. Since they use nearly three-fourths of U.S. electricity, that’s the key to making electricity supply affordable, distributed, diverse, resilient, and largely renewable.Switching to a fossil-fuel-free energy system will not only cost less, but will help re-ignite the world’s economies.In the U.S. alone, Rocky Mountain Institute’s Reinventing Fire analysis found that a 158-percent bigger economy could need no coal and oil and one-third less natural gas, yet cost $5 trillion less than business as usual. We are closer than ever before to transforming the world to a low-carbon energy system. Rocky Mountain Institute and the Carbon War Room are excited to coordinate their proven approaches to scaling transformational change worldwide. Together, we will more than double our impact on the scale and speed of the energy transformation to a clean, prosperous, secure and low-carbon world.

We will reach this better world only if we all collaborate. None of us can do this on our own. That’s why we are thrilled to be joining forces, and hope that others will be inspired to do the same—so we can build this exciting new world of opportunities at the pace our grandchildren require.

Snippet 1:Germany is looking into cutting its use of coal power, at the same time that it is cutting out nuclear. If it does, there could be a ripple effect because Germany is a major player in the European energy market. A Berlin-based journalist said that Germany’s emphasis on renewables is already impacting electricity markets in Poland and the Czech Republic. (Denmark is also exploring how it might go coal-free, but even sooner.)

Snippet 2:Currently about 45% of Germany’s electricity comes from burning coal. However, it was reported recently that new coal plants will not be financed there. About 24% came from solar and wind last year, but that amount could expand to 45% by 2025, if targets are met.

Snippet 3:The decision to dump coal is not the easiest one to make, but Germany has been a world leader in renewables, so it seems only logical for fossil fuels to be phased out.

The speed at which the German government is moving on its energy transition is very impressive. Another issue is how much money Germany will save over time by reducing energy imports.

Agelbert NOTE: Unlike fossil fuel funded "energy experts" and other assorted LIARS that publish at the Wall Street Journal, the above article tells the truth. Don't believe the mendacious propaganda that Germany is INCREASING their use of coal. That is EXACTLY OPPOSITE of what is happening.

THIS is the TRUTH:Shove the above graph in the face of any LIAR that claims Germany is using more coal and ask them if they are standing on their head when they read it!

And the liars writing these lies are doing it because Germany is teaching the world that a highly industrialized nation CAN transition quickly to 100% Renewable Energy.

This drives the profit over people and planet fossil fuelers into a frenzy. Pay close attention to what you read. The fossil fuel industry has a lot of media presstitutes on the payroll. BUT, people are realizing that they have been taken for a pollution for profit ride and it's PAYBACK TIME.

Siting transmission lines is a double-edged sword. They are necessary for scaling renewable energy, but they sure are ugly and too often clear cut huge swaths of land, fragmenting forests and habitats, while emanating electromagnetic fields that can cause serious illnesses.

Yet, these days any place that's left undeveloped can be an important haven for wildlife. Open land under transmission lines could protect 9 million acres and the land under which pipelines flow, another 12 million acres. Since these projects run hundreds (even thousands) of miles, they could create a network of conservation areas about a third the size of our national park system. They could provide crucial wildlife corridors that allow long migrations and a healthier gene pool where small, segmented populations of the same species can find each other.

Nonprofits are also working with transportation departments to plant wildflowers in medians and along the sides of roads, another 5 million acres that can sequester carbon while aiding wildlife.

For example, open, scrubby habitat under power lines provides habitat for endangered butterflies and is the best place to find native bees , Sam Droege of the US Geological Survey's Patuxent Wildlife Research Center told Yale 360. Transmission Conservation

A group has formed to make it happen - the Right of Way Stewardship Council that's setting standards and certifying these lands. Three utilities - NY Power Authority, Vermont Electric and Arizona Public Service are certified and three more are seeking certification. Utilities in Brazil and Australia are also showing interest.

"You're surrounded by evergreen closed-canopy forest and then there's this explosion of color, this linear streak of color, and it's all wildflowers," describes ecologist Kimberly Russell to Yale 360.

The US and Europe are making major investments in transmission infrastructure that will finally create a renewable energy backbone - driving billions of dollars in new projects and bringing clean energy to much more of the population.

In the US, approved and newly completed transmission lines make it possible for another 35 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy projects - mostly wind - bringing clean energy throughout the Midwest and to Southern and Eastern states.

Just approved is the SunZia Project. At a cost of $2 billion, two parallel 500-kilovolt transmission lines will traverse 515 miles of federal, state and private lands in New Mexico and Arizona. It will enable construction of 3 GW of wind and solar resources that couldn't otherwise gain access to the grid, enough for 1 million homes. It will create about 6000 construction jobs and potentially 40,000 jobs in new renewable energy projects.

SunZia will run parallel with existing roads and power lines, avoiding major population centers and sensitive areas. The Bureau of Land Management held 28 public meetings on the project since 2009, along with working with local, state and federal agencies and Indian tribes.

"New Mexico could lead the nation in wind and solar energy production, and transmission is the key to unleashing our clean energy potential," says Senator Tom Udall (D-NM).

In 2013, The 990-mile Gateway West Transmission Project was approved, which will be able to carry 1.5 GW of wind energy from southern Wyoming and Utah to Idaho and Washington State.Eventually it extend 2000 miles with the ability to carry 4.5 GW across western states.

Transmission Line Gateway West

A $6.8 billion transmission project in Texas is carrying wind energy to all the state's cities - spanning 3600 miles, it can carry as much as 18.5 GW. Minnesota is finishing off an 800-mile upgrade this year

In October, the Prairie Wind Transmission line began carrying electricity over 108 miles in Kansas, a linchpin of the "electric superhighway" being built through the windiest areas in Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas and population centers. At a cost of $4 billion, it will allow another 3 GW of wind to connect to the grid in High Plains states.

In the Oklahoma panhandle, the 700-mile, 3.5 GW Plains & Eastern Clean Line will deliver wind power to Arkansas, Tennessee, and other states in the Mid-South and Southeast. It will enable more than $6 billion in new wind farms when it opens in 2018.

The Rock Island Clean Line is waiting for approval to bring wind energy from western Iowa to eastern states through Illinois. The $2 billion, 500 mile transmission line would open another 3.5 GW - $7 billion in new wind projects.

Many of these are being built by Clean Line Energy Partners which offers annual payments to landowners who agree to host the lines.

If the wind industry keeps up the pace, it can provide 30% of US electricity by 2030, more than enough to meet the EPA's Clean Power Plan and a third of the greenhouse gas reductions President Obama committed to in its agreement with China, says Environment America.

Unfortunately, the Republican majority in Congress will probably not allow the industry to receive any further tax credits to make sure it happens.

In Europe, a planned supergrid will integrate renewable energy across all 28 countries, increasing reliability and lessening dependence on gas imports.

"Connecting Europe" will spend $7.5 billion through 2020 in cost-shared grants. Some funds will be used to build LNG plants that enable natural gas imports from countries other than Russia, but most will be used to carry renewable energy between countries, including hydro, offshore wind and tidal energy. One project is the longest under-sea cable in the world between the UK and Norway.

Surpluses in one country will be sent to others that need power, making the grid much more efficient. Originally, the supergrid was also supposed to carry geothermal electricity from Iceland and the enormous Desertec Project in the Sahara Desert, but these have been tabled for now.

Worldwide, the onshore wind market should reach $898 billion by 2020, up from $89 billion in 2013, according to Transparency Market Research.

Renewable energy costs the same or less than fossil fuels in most US states and in many parts of the world - very impressive for such a young industry.

42 of 50 Cities in US

In the US, solar is the more economical choice in 42 of the 50 largest cities, according to Going Solar in America, by the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center. Even fully financing a solar system (at 5% interest) costs homeowners less over its life than buying electricity from the local utility.

Because of high electricity prices, installing solar is cheapest in NYC and Boston, followed by:

But even people in states with moderate utility rates like North Carolina benefit because mid-Atlantic and southern states have the lowest installation costs.

Americans should no longer consider buying a solar system as a luxury, they say, but it does depend on the amount of sun and policies like the 30% federal tax credit and net-metering in the states. Over the 25 years of the solar systems people buy today, utilities are expected to increase electric rates 83%.

If the federal Investment Tax Credit stays in place, solar will cost the same or less than utility prices in 47 states by 2016, according to Deutsche Bank. If Congress allows it to fall to 10%, solar will have price parity in 36 states.

Importantly, solar costs would drop a lot more if more people understood what a great deal it is. That's because up to 64% of the cost is now "soft" customer acquisition costs, says the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center.

Read our article, Solar Has Another 'Best Year Ever' in 2014.

Home Buyers Pay More for Solar

Home buyers consistently pay about $15,000 more for homes with solar - a typical 3.6 kilowatt PV system - showing that it is increasingly viewed as a key asset that maintains home value in addition to lowering electricity costs.

Researchers at Lawrence Berkley Lab led a team that analyzed 22,000 home sales in eight states from 2002-2013 - 4,000 of which have solar. Homes ranged in price from $200,000-$900,000.

Solar gives a home "green cachet" they conclude, because the price premium doesn't vary much based on the size of the solar system. Newer solar systems get double the premium than those eight years or older.

The major point is "if you install solar and then sell your house, you should be able to get a significant portion of your money back. That's something we couldn't say with as much confidence before," says Ben Hoen, lead researcher. New home builders should take notice as well as those that are considering selling their house in the near term. Also, the real estate industry needs to include this when they appraise homes.

Renewables Worldwide

Onshore wind, geothermal, biomass and hydropower cost the same or less than coal, oil and gas-fired power stations, even without financial support and despite falling oil prices, says IRENA in Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2014. Solar PV leads the cost decline - modules cost 75% less since the end of 2009 and 50% less for utility-scale solar PV since 2010.

•Onshore wind consistently provides electricity at $0.05 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) without subsidies in Europe and elsewhere, compared to $0.045 to 0.14/kWh for fossil fuel power plants.

•Wind energy costs $0.06/kWh in Asia, $0.07 in North America and $0.09 in Africa.

•Residential solar PV systems cost some 70% less than in 2008

•Total costs for utility-scale solar PV dropped 65% since 2010, with the most competitive projects delivering electricity for $0.08/kWh without subsidies.

•When damage to human health from fossil fuels is factored in, along with the cost of carbon emissions, the price of fossil fuel-fired power generation rises to $0.07-$0.19/kWh.

These costs, however, vary widely based on resources and availability of financing.

"Now is the time for a step-change in deployment for renewables," says Adnan Amin, Director-General of IRENA. "It has never been cheaper to avoid dangerous climate change, create jobs, reduce fuel import bills and future-proof our energy system with renewables. This requires public acknowledgement of the low price of renewables, an end to subsidies for fossil fuels, and regulations and infrastructure to support the global energy transition."

Solar Is Creating Jobs Nearly 20 Times Faster Than Overall U.S. Economy

Anastasia Pantsios | January 15, 2015 9:56 am

All those senators currently debating in Washington D.C., calling the Keystone XL pipeline approval bill an urgent “jobs creation bill,” are looking for jobs in all the wrong places.

Solar installation alone added more jobs in 2014 than both the oil and natural gas sectors—jobs that can’t be outsourced. Photo credit: The Solar Project

They should be perusing the National Solar Jobs Census 2014, the fifth annual such report compiled by the nonprofit Solar Foundation. What they’d find there puts the pipeline project to shame. Despite attacks on clean, renewable energy around the country, creating uncertainty in the sector, job creation grew dramatically. It outperformed the slowly improving U.S. economy, creating jobs at nearly 20 times the rate of the overall economy.

Last year, jobs in solar increased by 21.8 percent, adding up to 31,000 new jobs in 2014 and bringing the total number of solar-related jobs in the U.S. to 173,800. That’s an increase of 86 percent since 2010. The vast majority—approximately 157,500— work 100 percent on solar activities.

“The solar industry has once again proven to be a powerful engine of economic growth and job creation,” said The Solar Foundation’s president and executive director Andrea Luecke. “Our Census findings show that one out of every 78 new jobs created in the U.S. over the past 12 months was created by the solar industry—nearly 1.3 percent of all jobs. It also shows for the fifth consecutive year, the solar industry is attracting highly skilled, well-paid professionals. That growth is putting people back to work and strengthening our nation’s economy.”

And despite attacks in states like Ohio, which froze its renewable energy standards last June and is talking about permanently eliminating them, The Solar Foundation projects that growth will continue. Its employer survey, which collected data from more than 7,600 U.S. businesses, found that the next year solar is likely to see a similar increase of almost 21 percent, bringing the total number of workers in the industry to 210,060.

“Demand for clean renewable power is growing,” said Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor and Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. “Solar exists at the critical intersection between energy, the economy and the environment. As the nation’s fastest growing energy source, solar is adding thousands of new jobs each year. Its growth will almost surely continue to be robust in coming years.”

The survey also found that installation remains the largest source of domestic solar employment growth, more than doubling since 2010 and that those workers are more and more diverse, with more African-Americans, Hispanics, women and veterans than in the 2013 report. Solar installation jobs have already blown past employment in the shrinking coal industry, which is now down to only 93,185 jobs. And while the oil and gas pipeline construction and extraction added 19,217 jobs in 2014, the solar installation sector created almost 50 percent more jobs.

Those jobs are that can’t be outsourced, won’t disappear in two years like the Keystone XL construction jobs and don’t come with negative health impacts or harmful impacts on the environment.

“The tremendous growth in the solar industry last year is further evidence that we can clean our air and cut climate pollution while also growing the economy,” said former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “The more data we have about the renewable energy industry, the better positioned policymakers and investors will be to make informed decisions. The Solar Jobs Census has the potential to help make that possible.”

And with jobs in the wind sector increasing rapidly as well, supporting fossil fuel industries at the expense of renewables seems like bad economic as well as bad environmental policy.

“Americans want greater clean energy deployment, and conventional electricity generation is among the largest sources of air and water pollution in the U.S.,” said Lyndon Rive, CEO of Solar City, the largest solar employer in the U.S. “As the Census underscores, solar is providing a tremendous boost to our economy while meeting public demand for choice, competition and cleaner, more affordable energy.”

After a several DECADES of denying the obvious, mortgage providers are FINALLY recognizing that renewable energy INCREASES the value of a property. It's about time!

02/13/2015 11:05 AM

Fannie Mae Gives Discount to Green Apartment Buildings

SustainableBusiness.com News

For the first time, mortgages will be discounted for green buildings, which advocates have been pursuing for years.

Fannie Mae announced that green multifamily properties will get a 10 basis point discount on interest for refinancing, acquisition and supplemental mortgage loans. To qualify, buildings can be LEED-certified, Energy Star-certified or meet Enterprise's Green Communities Criteria.

Fannie Mae is the top provider of multifamily financing in the US with a portfolio valued at more than $200 billion. 20 million families live in rental apartments and condos in the US.

If the market interest rate is 4% for multifamily loans, for example, certified buildings would pay 3.9%, saving $95,000 in interest payments over 10 years on a $10 million dollar loan.

"This is a great demonstration of leadership from Fannie Mae, and the partnership between the multifamily finance industry and the green building industry," says Rick Fedrizzi, CEO and founding chair of the US Green Building Council. "This is real money and an incentive to not only build green but also for existing buildings to achieve certification. For the first time, Fannie Mae multifamily lenders will be able to reward building owners for their better buildings."

"We clearly see the value in the triple-bottom line of certified green buildings: financial benefits of lower operating costs for owners and tenants; social benefits of better quality housing for renters; and environmental benefits for everyone," says Jeffery Hayward, executive vice president for multifamily, Fannie Mae.

And Fannie Mae will securitize the loans as Green Bonds, making them available for socially responsible investors to include them their portfolios. Green building advocates have long said mortgages should be cheaper because lower energy, water and maintenance bills leave more disposable income for loan recipients.

LEED Savings

LEED buildings, for example, consume 25% less energy and 11% less water on average, and have 19% lower maintenance costs, while producing a third less greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2013, President Obama extended his Better Buildings program to multifamily housing. Under the program, building owners pledge to reduce energy consumption across their portfolios by 20% within 10 years, and agree to share best practice strategies that can be substantiated with energy data.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac also provide financing to make multifamily buildings more energy and water efficient.

Agelbert NOTE: THe MKings among us will NO DOUBT wail, moan and groan about "welfare queenery", "government handouts" and other "lack of responsibility" (see psychological projection on steroids ) claims while studiously ignoring THEIR mega-welfare queen, 24/7, decade after decade, taxpayer theft FOR WARS AND "subsidies".

Hawaii Electric announced that 21% of its electricity comes from renewables, far exceeding the state's Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) that targets 15% by 2015.

12% of residential customers have on-site solar - a penetration level that leads the nation, says the utility. Partially that's because Hawaii has very high energy prices because it imports all its oil, but it is also because the utility has been proactive on developing home-grown energy.

The utility filed a Power Supply Improvement Plan with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission which would: •Increase renewable energy to over 65% by 2030 •Triple the amount of distributed solar by 2030 •Lower electric bills 20% by 2030

In other words, a utility is actually promoting the idea of raising the state's RPS, instead of trying to crush it like we're seeing in too many states.

In 2014, "we continued to grow our businesses in steady fashion and delivered a competitive core return on equity of 9.8% for the year as Hawaii Electric's combination of companies continues to provide us with the financial resources to efficiently invest in future opportunities," says Constance Lau, CEO.

Part of that investment is in grid modernization to be able to integrate more renewable energy. A clear, open planning process will let customers and solar contractors know how much more solar can be added each year, says Hawaii Electric.

"Even as recent oil price decreases have brought our customers bill relief, we remain focused on further reducing costs for our customers with proposed grid-scale solar and wind projects," Lau said. "We also are working with other stakeholders to bring liquefied natural gas to Hawaii as a cleaner, lower-cost alternative to oil while we continue to aggressively pursue more renewable generation sources."

Hawaii Electric is being acquired by NextEra Energy, one of the largest renewable energy developers, currently repowering parts of Altamont Pass Wind Farm and part-owners of the recently completed 550 MW Desert Sunlight Solar Project, for example. NextEra's utility side, Florida Power & Light, isn't very forward looking.

California raked in $1 billion in first cap-and-trade auction of the year, and since they take place every quarter, it can look forward to raising about $4 billion this year.

December's auction brought in $400 million, so why so much more now? As of January 1, transportation fuels are included in the program.

This is a big deal. Until now, the program applied to a few hundred major stationary polluters - utilities, manufacturers and food processors. Now, it includes mobile sources - transportation fuels - which accounts for 40% of California's emissions, expanding it dramatically.

Refineries and fuel wholesalers have to pay for emissions tied to fuel sales. They passed the cost to motorists, raising gas prices about 10 cents a gallon at the pump.

Even with the number of permits raised substantially, prices held steady at $12.21 per carbon credit, which gives companies the right to emit 1 ton of carbon this year.

Last year, Quebec joined the program, so the province will get a share. When Quebec on board the program became the Western Climate Initiative. Carbon Offsets Protect Forests, Help Native Americans

As part of the carbon trading program, companies can cover up to 8% of emissions with purchases of less expensive carbon offsets.

Offsets can be used for three purposes: •to pay businesses that destroy carbon-forcing HFCs like refrigerants; •to pay dairies that capture methane•to pay landowners that make a 100-year commitment to manage forests so they absorb maximum carbon from the atmosphere.

In April, California's Air Resources Board (ARB) issued the Yurok tribe over 800,000 offset credits in one of the first approved forestry projects. At the going rate of about $9 a credit, the tribe earns several million dollars to protect its forests, reports the LA Times.

Carbon Offset Yurok Land

About half the land on its reservation is owned by logging companies and the tribe is using the proceeds to buy and restore its ancestral land along the northern California coast.

"Due to the heavy logging activity that occurred around the Blue Creek Drainage, there's been significant degradation of habitat as well as fish population, by 80-90% from what it had been historically. We wanted to restore this land to its fullest capacity and the revenue from the carbon market offsets allowed us to do that," Vice Chair Susan Masten, told the Environmental Defense Fund.

Carbon projects allow the tribe to "maximize both revenue and the ability to preserve the forest," Chairman Thomas O'Rourke Sr., told the LA Times. It's allows us to "do our part on global warming and to preserve our way of life so that our future generations can see the pristine forest that our parents' grandparents saw." Round Valley Indian Tribes is getting over 540,000 offset credits for its Improved Forest Management Project - 5,550 acres on its northern California reservation.

"This reinforces our goal of sustainable forestry to maintain levels of wildlife, native plants, fish, clean water, and reduced fire threats. This project also is in line with the tribes' mission to ensure that our future generations enjoy the benefits of a healthy forest," Joe Dukepoo, Round Valley Tribal Councilman, told Indian Country Today.

ARB set up the program with rigorous rules to make sure that emissions reductions are "real, permanent, quantifiable, verifiable and enforceable." A 113-page protocol for forest projects shows how to measure the amount of carbon plants are absorbing, and requires extensive monitoring, reporting and independent verification.

It is incorrect to imply that California will have $1B to spend as a result of this month's carbon allowance auction. The majority of that money (considerably more than half) is returned to utilities for the benefit of their customers (to avoid rate increases, for on-bill credits twice a year, etc.) The remaining proceeds are split between California and our auction partner, the Canadian Province of Quebec. The amount of the actual total for California is also affected by the exchange rate at the time the total is tallied, and that has not yet happened. Dave Clegern Air Resources Board Public Information Officer for Climate Change Programs dclegern@arb.ca.gov

Business leaders have an important decision to make this year: to continue operating under the status quo or to join the list of successful companies creating a more sustainable future by contracting or investing in renewable energy and making a positive impact on their brand, customers, employees and bottom line.

In the past few months, we’ve seen exciting renewable energy announcements from market leaders such as Kaiser Permanente, Apple, Google, Starwood, Amazon, Citigroup and Blackrock.

Citing concerns about climate change and its threat to human health, Kaiser Permanente, one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit healthcare providers, last week announced plans to power half the electricity it uses in California with renewable energy. Having previously committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2020, Kaiser Permanente is now targeting to surpass this goal by the end of 2016, accelerating its timetable by three years. To this end, Kaiser Permanente will purchase up to 70 megawatts of distributed solar power from NRG Renew to be installed on rooftops and parking shade structures at up to 170 Kaiser Permanente facilities across California, including medical offices, hospitals, clinics and data centers. Several of the following market forces have aligned to make distributed solar power a viable, strategic option for Kaiser Permanente — and companies across all industries that are reviewing and re-evaluating their energy needs, looking for cleaner, more sustainable sources:

Cost reduction driven by technology advancements and scalability: The renewable energy industry is experiencing a decrease in infrastructure costs, finding that “solar photovoltaic modules cost three-quarters less today than they did in 2009, while wind turbine prices declined by almost a third over the same period.” The economics of clean energy are clear. In fact, some Fortune 500 companies have shaved more than $1 billion off their annual electric bills.

Grid instability and weather catastrophes have driven more interest in distributed generation: Not a lot has changed since the grid was originally built more than a century ago. In 2001, five weather-related events caused power outages that affected more than 50,000 customers. Ten years later, that figure rocketed up to 120 events that took down the grid. Weather events like Superstorm Sandy, combined with an antiquated infrastructure, signal that this pattern of unreliability will likely continue. Making the grid more resilient presents an ever-increasing cost imposed on consumers, but distributed solar and microgrids can take the strain off the grid by placing clean, solar energy generation next to a company’s load needs, helping mitigate the impact of future grid-related catastrophes.

Sustainability goals improve brand image in the eyes of customers, employees and shareholders: According to an Accenture and United Nations sustainability report surveying more than 1,000 top executives across 103 nations and 27 industries, 93 percent of CEOs see sustainability as important to the future success of their business, and 80 percent see sustainability issues as a route to competitive advantage in their industry. Not only do sustainability efforts address growing consumer demands that companies address climate change and do the right thing for the planet, but renewable energy savings can be reinvested in research and development of innovative new products to corner markets or increase market share.

Companies are hedging for the future against volatile fuel prices and escalating utility rates: In the past, companies did not have a choice where their energy would come from. Today, there are more options for companies to lock in long-term, fixed-cost, clean energy contracts such as Power Purchase Agreements or Operating Leases that allow companies to hedge against future increases in power pricing and fundamentally purchase electricity in a cheaper way.

A combination of all these factors has led to an increase in renewable investment including a rise in the number of companies embracing distributed generation as a strategic, economic and more sustainable energy option. This middle ground between residential solar and utility-scale solar is an area where single-brand, multi-site companies, such as Kaiser Permanente and Unilever, can uniquely benefit from a portfolio approach to harnessing renewable energy.

At Arizona State University, we worked with the university’s team to develop and install more than 30 installations across the campus. At our Starwood projects in Arizona, Hawaii and St. John, we’re taking a diversified, custom design-driven approach, integrating solar panels into the existing landscape to provide visually compelling installations that adds to the beauty at each resort. While the economics and electricity pricing can vary greatly, a portfolio approach spreads the pricing across the collection of projects for overall savings. And it’s an approach that will work for many companies globally that operate multiple sites from college, government and corporate campuses to shopping centers, warehouses/distribution centers and manufacturing facilities.

Our sustainable future is here. Now is the time to reevaluate your energy needs and join us in rewriting the energy status quo with renewables at its core.

Agelbert note: The energy status quo needs to have renewables EVERYWHERE, not simply at its core. And dirty energy production needs to PAY for all the pollution from the past as well as be prohibited from polluting in the present and future.

The Fossil Fuelers DID THE Climate Trashing CRIME, but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks , they are trying to AVOID DOING THE TIME or PAYING THE FINE! Don't let them get away with it!

China says it will install 17.8 gigawatts of solar this year, raising the target 20%. That's almost as much as the entire US has at 20 GW.

If they follow last year's plan, about half will be rooftop solar - a priority for the first time - as a way to reduce pollution in populated centers, and get off coal . Until now, almost all solar systems have been built in remote locations at utility-scale, requiring big investments in transmission infrastructure.

Since most people don't live in single family homes, rooftop solar and small, ground-mounted projects would be on large rooftops of industrial and commercial companies, and public buildings like rail stations and airport terminals.

According to news sources, China missed the mark last year on small solar because lots of distributed systems are more complicated to finance and install.

The country can reach 26% renewable energy by 2030, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in Renewable Energy Prospects: China. Looking only at electricity, renewables could supply 40% by then (including hydro and nuclear). And that would bring 18% lower coal consumption.

"China's energy use is expected to increase 60% by 2030. How China meets that need will determine whether or not the world can curb climate change," says Adnan Amin, Director-General of IRENA.

According to IRENA, 2.6 million people work in the renewable energy industry in China. Determined to Clean Up Pollution

The country has a new Minister of the Environment, Chen Jining, an environmental scientist and former president of the prestigious Tsinghua University.

His predecessor was known as a "consummate insider " that let industry get away with skirting requirements, which came to a head with the recent release of the film, "Under the Dome," which made headlines when it went viral.

While the population has been protesting polluted air and water for years, the film is widely seen as the final wake-up call - China's "Silent Spring." Viewed an amazing 200 million times for a 104-minute film, it exposes the devastating impact China's industries have had on air quality, and the government that has failed to regulate them.While the media and government originally lauded the film, the files have quietly become unavailable.

Amazingly, companies have been covering up their pollution in some innovative ways, like "rigging automated pollution-monitoring systems to fudge data, discharging pollution through secret underground pipes and dumping toxic waste into rivers in the dead of night," reports CleanBiz.Asia. Agelbert NOTE:It's clear the Chinese Predatory Capitalists LEARNED A LOT from a certain FASCIST FOSSIL FUEL GOVERNMENT that has RUN/RUINED the USA for about a century.

And China's air pollution is making it all the way to the US. Various pollutants, from acid rain-inducing sulphate to black carbon, travel on "westerly winds," reports Reuters.

"We've outsourced our manufacturing and much of our pollution, but some of it is blowing back across the Pacific to haunt us," Steve Davis, a scientist at University of California Irvine, told Reuters. One third of China's greenhouse gases is attributed to its export industries, according to Worldwatch Institute.

AGELBERT RANT: If you think, FOR ONE SECOND, that the very same Fascist Fossil Fuel Government in the USA that is spraying nanoparticle aerosols in the troposphere TO SLOW DOWN GLOBAL WARMING SO THE FOSSIL FUEL BASTARDS can preserve their profit over people and planet CRAP, is "concerned" about the pollution from China, you have that EXACTLY backwards. More aerosols from MORE pollution reflects sunlight, GET IT?

If you don't, you need to look up the term "profit over planet". And no, that will NOT work in the long run to cool the planet. BUT THE SHORT RUN is ALL that the greedball imbeciles that run our country have the mental horsepower to handle.

So EXPECT our biosphere math challenged Dr. Strangeloves to INCREASE the geo-engineering of the atmosphere in DIRECT PROPORTION to the DECREASE of polluting aerosols from China by adding MORE heavy metal aerosols to MAKE UP for the aerosols China stops putting out.